Dog Person
by Rasberry Parfait
Summary: Sequel to "Like a Lost Puppy, but More Sarcastic". Rory always was a Dog Person-but then again, she's been stubborn all her life, too. Looks like Seth's got his work cut out for him.
1. Weddings, Bacon Biters and Nutjob Nick

A/N: Okay. Finally. It's taken me awhile, but I've finally got chapter one up. *happy dances*

Okay, so new readers, welcome, and returning readers, welcome back! I've missed you all so much!

Story Notes: In this story, I had to have Seth and Leah phase around late may of Rory's junior year, as opposed to mid-march of her senior year. I really, really tried to make the canon work for me, but was unsuccessful. So, sorry about that.

Chapter Notes: Takes place around late June, about a month and a week after the epilogue of Lost Puppy. But it's going to skip around a lot, not flashbacks per-say, more like retrospect.

Second, I don't know if they have subways in Seattle. I've only been there once, and I drove. So if there aren't, just play pretend, okay?

Thirdly, there isn't actually a ton of dialogue in this chapter, but most of it's scripted. Sorry. The rest of the story won't be like that. Also, one reason that this took so long was that it took me awhile to come to terms with Rory's desire to break the fourth wall a little bit. So let me know how you felt about that.

Lastly, sorry for the overused boyfriend assumption. It's so overused now that personally, I expect it and when it's not there, I'm like "Huh…" and it distracts from the story. So that's why I felt the need to put it in.

Disclaimer: I do not, have not and never will own or claim to own: Twilight, Beyonce, Dr. Laura, Kleenex, Everybody Loves Raymond, or Scooby Doo or any of its characters.

Dog Person

Chapter One

(Rory's POV)

Really, as I reluctantly admitted to myself, it wasn't _all _his fault. There were a lot of things that led me to where I was. Which was in a subway station in Seattle, soaking wet with no money and wearing a miniskirt that I hated.

Of course, that's not to say that I didn't hate all miniskirts, but this one was especially evil.

It started back at Christmas.

See-

No, wait, it started before Christmas.

Okay. So about a week after the whole Jasper episode, I met Seth. Seth Clearwater is sweetest, friendliest, nicest human being I had ever known, and after that night, he kept coming back, and every time he did, I tried to ignore him.

I wasn't trying to be malicious. That was part of our unique relationship. If you could call it that. Okay, it was like Jasper and I. Seth tried to win me over, and I tried not to be won over. Much like how I tried to win Jasper over, and how he resisted. Because as much as he said that it was only because of some super-secret information that I wasn't privy to know, I think there was a part of him that only acted like he did to see if he could.

Fact: For most nice/not mean people, it is difficult not to be nice/not mean to people who are nice/not mean to you.

And on top of that, Fact: When you love a challenge, you take them when you can.

So that makes sense.

Of course, there was another reason I resisted his attempts at friendship. One that, like a lot of things, I didn't want to admit to myself. I mean, I was one of those people who loves a challenge, and it happened in Florida a lot-someone would seem standoffish, and I'd do my best to fix that. But I'd never been on the other side-I was always chasing other people, always trying to win them over. I wasn't used to being chased, and I guess there _may_ have _possibly_ been a _small_ part of me that liked that attention. If I gave in and talked to Seth, he'd probably stop coming. And it wasn't like people were lining up to be my best friend.

I'd stopped sitting with Jessica and the Forks High A-List awhile ago, after the novelty of my new-kid-ness wore off, and started my term as the Loner Outcast. I think when I got to Forks, they were running out of labels.

I sat at the outcast table-where I was most comfortable anyway, because they didn't talk about things I had no clue about, like clothes and Beyonce. Even though they didn't really talk to me there, either (hence the 'loner' part of 'loner outcast.') But they acknowledged my presence, at least. And just to clarify, there was no big drama about this adjustment, no big fight or anything, I just never talked to anyone in the in-crowd, and I started talking to the people at the outcast table, and then one day

Me: Jess, I'muna sit with them today, kay?

Jessica: *looks away from Mike Newton for a second.* Did you say something?

It really was for the best.

Thus, the reason I really wanted to just stop being stupid and talk to Seth. And why I couldn't allow myself that privilege. I win, he goes away. He wins, he talks to me once and goes away. So I was screwed either way.

Now let's leave Seth for a second, because what happens next is tied into Christmas.

The up side? Danny came home to visit. The bad side? He brought someone with him. Her official title was 'fiancé.' Her name was Whitney Clark. Out of boredness, I started looking up name meanings once. Clark means "scholar" and I think it would be awesome if that were really ironic, but it's not, because Whitney was actually smart. She was also a dancer, and she satisfied the stereotype of every five-year-old girl's ballerina dreams. She was tall, graceful, and beautiful, with hair that was slightly longer than typical.

Merry Christmas to me.

You're supposed to be happy when your siblings get married, but I'm not usually one to do what I'm supposed to, and heck-I'm not usually one to be _happy. _Period. I am not an optimist. This was no exception. Reasons Why It Wasn't Going To Last-

One: They had nothing in common.

Two: The things they did have in common didn't help. Example: Both talkative. According to Dr. Laura, communication is vital to a long-lasting relationship. Don't ask how I know that. Coming from someone who has five brothers, it is just really, really, really hard to communicate when neither party will shut their freaking mouth and listen.

Thee: It never did.

I'd seen my mother's marriage fall apart like a pair of jeans that's seen far better days, and I'd seen her go through boyfriends and engagements like Kleenex. And from listening to Dr. Laura (my mom played the audio tapes in the kitchen of the diner when we were working, okay? Don't judge me) I knew that this kind of crappy relationship wasn't all that unusual. And I knew from watching my own grandparents (who were reminiscent of the parents and Everybody Loves Raymond, if you've ever seen that show) that even couples that stay together don't really stay in love. So. The point?

And just so we're clear, I do believe love exists, I just don't believe it ever lasts.

Oh, and I forgot the added bonus-Reason Why I Was Not Happy-

Four: Danny was getting a life.

Okay, that one takes some more explaining. Danny and Whitney had both been pretty much out of school, just working in New York, hoping to get a job in what had been their respective majors, when they met. They had been in Forks since Christmas, with Danny staying at our house and Whitney in the apartment they were moving into (oh, yeah, did I mention? They were, for some unfathomable reasons, moving to town. Even though Danny hated the rain and always had, but whatever.) and Danny had barely spoken to any of us the entire time. I'd always considered Danny my best friend-I was closer with him than anyone, even Ellis. And of he hadn't been a total family-ignoring-idiot about the entire thing, I might not have resented him

But he _was _an idiot, so I _did _resent him.

But you don't just spread it around that you don't want someone to get married. Especially when you do tell one person (cough, cough NATE cough, cough) and they go all "You are going against the family, I disown you, begone" on you.

So, like so many other things, I felt it best to keep it to myself. Of course, they few times that Danny or Whitney did try to talk to me, I ignored them, mostly because I knew if I tried talking to either of them, it could only end in death. If it was Danny, then probably mine, so I was especially careful around him, but if it was Whitney, then I knew I could probably take her in a fight, but I didn't want to have to clean that up, so I silenced myself around her, too.

The date was set for the day that school let out, which meant I got to skip out on all the "end of year festivities" such as signing the same crappy thing in a million yearbooks of kids I was seeing again next year anyway, and having to explain five million times that no, they couldn't sign mine because I didn't have one, and that wasn't for any reason other than the fact that I didn't want one. Maybe I'd get one next year, and fill all the autograph pages with complaints and teen angst and then when people asked to sign my yearbook, I'd show them that it was completely full. They wouldn't bother to read them, anyway. And then when I was old and I was getting the age where all I wanted to do was complain about the economy and how youngins had it easy and needed to enjoy their youth, I could look back and be like "Oh, yeah. That's why it sucked so much."

But anyway, back to how this ties into Seth. So my family ignores me, hates me or…is Owen, and I really don't have any "friends" per say at school. Then there's Seth, the one person that wants to hang out with me, and I have to keep turning him down out of my natural Rory-ness. And then there was Jasper, who I didn't really talk to, but he and some of his siblings smiled at me in the halls, an honor reserved for very few. Aside from Jasper, there was Alice (who waved, if only to distinguish it from the fact that she pretty much smiled at everyone) and Emmett, and after Bella Swan came to town, Edward. Which left Rosalie in all her perfect blond irritability, to ignore me, but in a very purposeful, pointed way, which is hard to do when the person you're ignoring never actually talks to you, but she did it.

All it takes is one experience in which I interact in a friendly manner towards human beings and they reciprocate-or in English, one prom where Emmett mocks me in a non-malicious way for being really stupid with my camera, Edward, Bella and I have a really awkward but not unfriendly conversation, and Jasper dances with me to one song. That's all it takes. And then I'm hooked on the drug that _is_ human socialization.

So then Seth comes the following Friday, as always (he always comes on Fridays. I can't remember why.) and asks me if I want to hang out and go get coffee or something. And from most guys, it would sound like a date invite, but from Seth, I can tell it's totally platonic. He is just a really good communicator, on top of being oh-so charismatic, which means that if he ran for president, he would win, but that's not important right now.

And, being the social addict that I now am, I say "Sure."

And considering that I've ignored him for eight months, he reacted considerably more calmly than I would have in his situation.

So. We go get coffee (except that I get Hot Chocolate because I hate coffee, and he gets hot chocolate because he's not allowed to have coffee anymore because of the caffeine. But we're at a coffee shop) and then afterwards, he mentions that he'll see me next week.

Me: *surprised* Um…you will?

Him: *laughs* What did you expect?

That nasty little bacon wrapped bubble biting cheese bathing liar face.

If you're wondering, no, he didn't show up. About a week after _that, _right when I was starting get over myself and think, maybe he had a family emergency or something, he has his sister call me and tell me I suck and he never wants to see me again.

I mean, those weren't exact words, but that was the gist of it.

So naturally, I was already in a bad mood. So naturally, that was when Danny he'd had enough of my bad attitude.

"Sit up, I need to talk to you." Danny said, shutting the door behind him. He sounded ticked.

I sighed, paused the CD and brought myself into a cross-legged position, staring at him expectantly. "What?" I asked.

"Who do you think you are?" he snapped.

I raised my eyebrows.

"Treating Whitney like you do, always moping around like you hate everyone around you, what's up with you lately?"

"Whitney doesn't exactly go out of her way to be best buddies either, Danny." I snapped back. "And-"

"Just because your boyfriend broke up with you doesn't give you the right to act like a total brat, Rory." He continued as though I hadn't spoken.

"He wasn't my boyfriend, and-"

"Gosh, ever since I got here you've been all moody and angry all the freaking time. It's like I don't even know you anymore."

That's when I snapped. Big brother had crossed the line.

"You know what, Danny?" I asked, standing up. "You need to just shut your flipping mouth, because you've been here for a month and you've barely spoken to any of us, not even mom! Ever since dad left, we've all looked up to you-Gary and Alex especially, and me and Nathan and even Owen, even though he'll never admit it, and you don't even care anymore! And you know what else?" I asked. My voice was starting to sound more Floridian. That was what happened when I was mad. "Maybe if you'd paid any attention to anything that's been going on, then you'd know exactly why I've been so angry lately. Do you think I _like _being like this? I DON'T. And you coming in here and acting like you still have the right to put me back in line-"

"I'm your older brother-"

"Bull_crap._" I snarled. "You know, what you said just now? That's the most you've said to me since you got here. I used to be able to talk to you, you know. I'm not the only one that's changed."

"Rory-"

"Just get out!" I screamed. I considered throwing my stereo at him, but more out of concern for the stereo's welfare then my brother's, I decided this was a bad idea and picked up a shoe instead.

It hit the door as he slammed it on his way out.

And then it was official-Danny, my brother Danny, who I had formerly considered one of my closest friends, wasn't anymore. Something had broken between us.

So we've covered the first two things that pushed me over the edge-Seth's abandonment and Danny's engagement. Let's move along, shall we?

So, Carter and Courtney come to town for the wedding. Carter and Courtney are Whitney's brother and sister. They're twins, and "about my age" and everyone told me enthusiastically. Why do people always assume that if you're the same age, you'll get along? That's no guarantee of anything. I'm also the same age as this girl named Lily back in Florida, who I used to get set up with on play dates by our parents when we were younger.

There are no words to describe how intense my dislike for her is.

Courtney and Carter were a different story. At first, Courtney was the kind of friendly where you can tell they're only being that way to be polite, and Carter was standoffish. Then we realized the one thing we all had in common-none of us wanted Danny and Whitney getting married.

I would rather have just watched them crash and burn on their own, but they-okay, mostly Courtney-insisted that we try to break them up.

Me: You couldn't have tried to do this without me because…

Courtney: Because three is a lucky number. Obviously.

Obviously.

But it turned out, the three of us were also really uncreative when it came to breaking up weddings, so mostly we just lied to them about things the other said, like petty High School girls. I'd looked down on those kinds of chicks my whole life, so I was kind of a hypocrite, but…

Man, it was fun.

Through it all, I wound up really starting like these kids. Maybe, when Danny and Whitney got divorced, I'd keep touch with them anyway. Courtney was bubbly and talkative and hyperactive and you didn't understand half the things she said, but that was okay. She made things interesting. I was the sarcastic, pessimist of the group, and Carter was the quiet-but-not-shy brainiac. The most he said to me at once the entire time he was there (which, admittedly, was only a week, but still) was in this conversation:

Carter: *not as nervously as you'd expect, but not overly confident either* So….I was wondering if you might wanna go out with me? I mean, while I'm still in town and everything.

Me: *blinks*

Before I go on, I should mention that that had never happened to me. Ever. I had never been popular with boys in Florida-okay, well I had been, but not like that. I was "one of the guys," that was the mindset, and considering my feelings on romance, I never really regretted that too much. And it didn't help that I was two years younger than everyone in my grade. As for Forks, there was the two grades younger thing, plus the fact that I was, as you remember, the "loner outcast." So I'd never been asked out before-I couldn't even remember the last time I'd even fantasized about being asked out.

So as it happened, I was not the most experienced tool in the chandelier about dating.

Me: Er, um, uh, no. I'm, um, flattered, but no thanks.

Carter: Oh. *shrugs* Okay.

Me: *Feels guilty even though Carter doesn't actually look that disappointed* It's not because of you though.

Carter: *looks at me expectantly*

Me: I don't believe in love. I mean, I do, just…not that it ever lasts.

Carter: Is that why you don't want Danny and Whitney getting married?

Me: It's part of it.

Carter: That's a pretty pessimistic point of view.

Me: It's a realistic point of view.

Carter: *frowns*

Me: Don't judge me.

Carter: Who said I was judging you?

Courtney: *comes in from kitchen* Hey, guys! What'd I miss?

And so-here's where we get to the good part-the wedding went on as planned, except for this party crasher named David who was a total jerk.

And also happened to be my father.

It's a long story how it happened, but basically, he heard it from a friend in Florida that Danny was getting married, and where. The friend heard that from one of our friends from Florida that were coming to the wedding. So he shows up in a tux and when someone notices him, there's this big scene. And Owen probably would have hit him, but he couldn't.

Because I did first.

So my mom starts screaming, and then Owen winds up taking me home early (but I didn't feel bad, because I knew that Owen was being sent away, too. That was the only reason my mom designated him to take me home, was so he couldn't hit him, too.)

So Owen and I spent the afternoon talking about the one thing we agreed on-how much Daddy Dearest sucked. And then mom comes home and says that they're going to "try again, try harder this time to make it work."

Some people are extremely logical, and base all their actions on thought. My mom and I are the exact opposite-we base everything on emotions, without even realizing we do it when we do. That's actually kind of weird, especially for my mom, because if you try to talk to her about your own emotions, she doesn't get it. She goes all Velma Dinkley on you and is just like "That makes no sense." No, _mommy, _they don't make sense, that's why their called emotions. But in her own life…I think she thinks she's thinking when she's really feeling. Or she thinks to justify the action demanded by feeling. If that makes sense.

Whatever. You see my point-if she'd been thinking logically, she would have totally let me or Owen beat the dude up, but no, she goes and says "Okay! I'll date the man that left me with six kids!"

So, you see how this decision could end badly.

So, after two weeks of forcible family bonding, Danny and Whitney come back and get moved into the apartment their going to be living in. And then, when they're totally moved in (this is about three weeks after the wedding, in early July) we go out to dinner. And we go to this fancy restaurant and have to get all dressed up, hence the miniskirt.

And that was when it occurred to me how isolated I was.

Once again, I felt like I wasn't a member of my own family, but now it was even worse. Because David was winning.

I mean, I still wasn't talking to Danny. The temporary truce Owen and I had had the day of the wedding had ended. Nate still thought I was going against the family, and plus, he was the weak link. What I mean by that is, out of all of us, he was the one who wanted dad back the most. And even though he was still holding out, I could tell he was about to snap.

And Gary and Alex were too little to realize how much of an idiot their father was. Actually, they didn't realize he was their father yet-they kept calling him David. My mom let them get away with it, but not me.

Even when we'd first moved here, it wasn't as bad as this.

That night, I grabbed an old hoodie and switched my heels for some tennis shoes, stuffing all the cash I had into them before putting my feet in. The reason I didn't take more was that it was late and I was supposed to be going to bed, so I had to be quiet. And fast.

And then I wound up walking to the train station and going to Seattle. Which, if lowering my budget considerably, it got me far away. And that's how I wound up in a miniskirt, in a Seattle subway station.

If I sounded bitter during any of that, it's only because of the rain.

The sad part? I'd been accusing my mother of being too emotionally ruled and idealistic and overly-dramatic. But I was the same way.

But it made sense at the time-why should I stick around and let myself be let down yet again? And there had to be something out there other than a family full of people that barely noticed my existence, with the exception of David, the one person that I almost wished did hate me.

Of course, after the first week, I realized how stupid that was, even in my mindset at the time. I could've at least waited until I turned sixteen and could actually get a job.

By the second week, I was starting to miss them. Even Owen. But some stupid sense of pride wouldn't let me go back.

And by the third week, I didn't even know what it was that was keeping me there, under the careful watch of Nutjob Nick, the hobo that sometimes stared at me with a plastic spork in his hands like he wished there weren't so many people around, that there weren't so many potential witnesses.

But it wasn't until I'd been there a full month that I finally had to go back.

It was a day like any other-people throwing quarters at me, and I watched Nick carefully. It was a busy day, but still. You don't just not watch the hobo that you think wants to kill you when he has a spork. That's how you wind up with a spork in your liver.

Suddenly, I felt a presence, like someone was standing over me. I looked up to see the person I least expected to-who I expected, I didn't know, but if I'd had time to put together a theory, he wouldn't have been a part of it.

"Jasper?"


	2. Robert Frost is Out of the Loop

A/N: Guess who's back, back, back, back again, gain, gain?

Razzy's back, back, back-tell friend, friend, friend!

I know I said that this was currently on hiatus (well, I did in another story, but I guess you guys never got the memo, did you? I'm dead serious, I JUST realized that. Sorry sorry sorry sorry sorry! It's cause my dad gave me a quote-unquote "extra homework assignment") but Rory-not to mention some of my other characters-just will NOT shut up right now. So I was like "Okay! I'll write, I'll write, just please make the voices stop!"

Okay, I wasn't quite so reluctant.

Thanks so much to everyone who reviewed! I'd respond to all of you individually, but I want to get this out as soon as possible, and I don't know when I'll have the time to sit down and respond to all of them, and I figure you guys would rather have an update…right?

Whoa…déjà vu.

But anyway, thank you all so much. Also, I might need Nutjob Nick later on, but he is for rent. To be paid in reviews. And also, some people seemed surprised that it was Jasper…which made me excited, because people never tell me they were surprised at what I wrote. Hooray for my first plot twist!

Also, I found pictures of all my characters. The link (singular-all in one spot) is on my profile, if anyone is interested.

Chapter Notes: This takes place before the Eclipse battle, when the Cullens still think the wolves can go die and vice versa.

Which made this all the more entertaining to write.

Also, I had some stuff written in Jasper's POV about finding out she'd gone missing and trying to find her, but I hated it, so I just decided to trash it and let you know in the A/N that Edward went to Bella's house and Charlie was getting worried (I always imagined that Chief Swan would be the type to worry when scary stuff happens, especially considering the fact that not much crap actually happens in Forks. At least, before Bella moved to town, but you see my point.) Edward, knowing that Jasper sees Rory as a little sister, informs him of this, but he already knew, he knew ever since Edward made the DECISION to actually pay attention to what Charlie was thinking for once-he usually tunes it out, since whenever Ed's close enough to hear him, Charlie's usually cussing him out in his mind-but anyway, Alice had a vision of Edward coming and telling them that, and them finding her in a subway station-and since there are no subway stations in Forks, they knew Rory had to be in a bigger city, so they try Seattle and the find her there. The reason it took so long was just because Edward doesn't _like _being cussed out. Most people don't.

If any of that made no sense, sorry. I just made it up as I went along.

Disclaimer: When I own Twilight, I shall throw an enormous party and you're all invited! But I don't. Yet. So no party. I know, bummer, right? I also don't own the song "You're Pitiful" by Weird Al. It has nothing to do with this chapter, I just like that song. It makes me giggle. Especially where he's like "La-la-la-la loser…"

Dog Person

Chapter Two

(Seth's POV; Some time earlier)

"That last part was uncalled for." I told Leah, frowning.

"You only had two requirements-that she know you didn't die or anything, and that she knows that she's not welcome to come looking for you." Leah snapped. "I did my job."

I didn't answer, so Leah went upstairs.

Being a werewolf, apparently, meant not being allowed to have much of a social life, mainly because of the risk involved, and partially because having to come up with fake excuse after fake excuse would've been exhausting. (Because it's not like you can just tell your friends what you're actually doing. "Hey, wanna hang out?" "No, I have to go look out for vampires." No.) Which pretty much meant that I'd never be seeing Rory again. My other friends all went to my school. I only ever saw Rory at the diner. I hadn't known Rory nearly as long as I'd known the people at my school, but it felt worse having to blow her, off, which was why I couldn't bring myself to do it myself and had to have Leah do it.

The reason? I knew my other friends would be okay. They'd be offended, and they'd wonder what was going on, sure. But they'd be fine without me. They'd move on.

Rory was a different story. She might act like she didn't care about anything, that she was fine and didn't need anyone else, but I could tell that wasn't true. In a way, she was like Leah on lesser scale-she only acted like that because she was absolutely terrified of anyone figuring out how fragile she really was.

Which was why I didn't mention the fact that I _had _figured that out, months ago.

I ran over what Leah had said.

"Is this Rory Neilson?" she'd asked, just to make sure she didn't waste her breath on the wrong person. Pause.

"Fine." She'd said, sounding more irritated than usual then.

"Hi. This is Leah Clearwater. Seth's sister. He wanted me to tell you that he can't come next week. Or ever. But it's not because he's hurt or anything, he's fine. He's just not coming. And he said not to come looking for him or anything. Basically, he never wants to see you again. Have a nice day."

Click.

My dad always said I was too perceptive for my own good. Which, I realized now, was true. If I hadn't been perceptive, I wouldn't have anticipated what this going to do to Rory. If I hadn't anticipated that, then I would've told her myself, and I would've been able to tell her in a less…hostile way. And then she wouldn't be _as_ royally ticked off, not to mention hurt, as she probably was right then.

I tried calling her the next to day to explain that it wasn't anything against her, but her brother, the second oldest one, answered.

"Hello?"

"Hi, this is Seth Clearwater, is Rory home?"

"Oh, it's _you." _He spat. "Yes, she's home, but I doubt she wants to talk to you right now."

"Well-"

"Attempt to contact her again in any way, shape or form, and you'll be out cold so long that even if you do wake up, it'll be in a box six feet under."

And then he hung up.

I didn't call back.

I couldn't help but wonder who was going to wind up putting her back together. Someone was going to have to eventually-she couldn't do it alone, and you knew that because you could tell how hard she tried to.

Whoever it was, they were going to have their work cut out for them.

So add that to the list of stuff I felt guilty about. If Leah and I hadn't phased, our dad would still be here. That was a big one. Then, after everything that had happened to my sister, I still found something to be jealous of-not even something worth being jealous of. Having no friends? And then the whole thing with Rory.

"Way to go, Slick." I thought sarcastically.

Sometimes, when the voice in my head got like that, it sounded just like Leah.

(Rory's POV; Where we last left off)

Observation One: Jasper wasn't alone. Alice was there too, which was a good thing, because I had this feeling that if she weren't, I'd be dead already. Alice looked concerned, but Jasper…didn't.

Observation Two: Jasper was _ticked. _

"What do you think you're doing?" he hissed. I frowned, stood up, and almost lost my balance for a minute-made of equal parts insomnia and malnutrition-but Jasper caught me by the arm and steadied me, so he couldn't have been _that _angry.

"Nice to see you too." I said sarcastically.

"Rory, look at yourself. You're a mess."

"Thanks, you look great, too."

"I'm serious. You need to go home."

"I-how did you even find me?"

"It wasn't all that hard, to be honest." Alice said. "We knew you wouldn't want to be found…after that it was just logic."

"If you knew I didn't want to be found, then why did you come looking?" I snapped.

"Sometimes what you want isn't the same as what you need. What you need is to go home."

"I can't."

"Can't, or-"  
"Don't-" I interrupted, "Don't you _dare _say 'won't.' I _can't. _I just can't, okay? So just go…go away."

I sat back down and looked pointedly away from them, instead choosing to mad dog Nutjob Nick, who was watching this exchange with interest.

Alice crouched down and put an icy cold hand on my shoulder. "Hey," she said quietly, "Why can't you go back?"

She had a high, comforting voice, not shrill but almost musical, and that might have been part of why I actually responded.

"How do you even know they want me back?" I demanded. "They were already all P. when I left, and I didn't even leave a note or anything."

Alice looked up at Jasper, who knelt down as well, so we were all on the same level; something I was grateful for considering that having someone that angry at me towering over me was making me a little paranoid.

"Rory," Jasper said, not sounding nearly as ticked as he had a minute ago, "You know, your family has been looking everywhere for you? There are signs and everything. They got the police involved."

"They're your family," Alice said. "How could they not want you back?"

"You don't know anything about my family," I muttered. "With your perfect white-bread all-American thing going for you…" It didn't occur to me until later how ghetto-elitist I sounded right then.

There was a pause.

"Did you know that we were adopted, Rory?" Jasper asked.

"So I've heard."

"Yes, well…before I joined the Cullen family, I belonged to a very…different sort of family. Not at all white-bread…definitely not all-American."

Before, I'd been staring past them toward the tracks; now, my head snapped up and I stared at him. There was empathy in his expression; it seemed like he was as desperate for a connection as I was. I was well aware that by "different," he probably meant something entirely different, and much worse, than what "different" meant being applied to my own family; but the empathy was still there. The feelings of being outcaste in the one unit you should have always been included in; the feelings of confusion and isolation and wondering what 'family' really meant, and wondering what if you were where you were supposed to be, and the desperation just to make that all go away, to understand, to not _care _anymore. He understood that.

It was this, more than anything, that persuaded me to stand up and say "Okay." Unlike Jasper, I would probably not need to be adopted by another family any time soon; but still, Jasper understood. It meant more to me than I would ever admit.

We started walking away-it took me a moment to gather my bearings, but I did-when I stopped suddenly.

"Wait," I said, resting a hand against the all and pulling off a shoe. Alice and Jasper exchanged a wary glance, wondering if my time as a runaway had affected my sanity, but then I pulled out all the money I had left. None of it was the original cash I'd brought with me, but people liked to throw money at me and tell me to get a job, which I thought was a little counter-productive, but not like I was complaining.

I walked over to Nutjob Nick, who had still been watching me, and handed him the money. Sure, he was a psycho, but he'd served as a perfect example of what I did not want to become, and for that I would always be grateful.

As I walked back to Alice and Jasper, I felt something bounce against the back of my head.

"Ow," I muttered, turning around. Looking down, I saw a single quarter lying there, and glancing up at Nick, I saw he was laughing that wheezing laugh of his that sounded more like a dog coughing a really long cough than a laugh. Infuriated, I picked up the quarter and threw it back at him (he just laughed louder) and had started screaming at him-

"WHAT THE FUDGE YOU BUTTER LICKING LITTLE-"

But then Alice linked arms with me and dragged me away, and didn't let go until we reached the street. It didn't really matter, though; a strange sense of calm had just overtaken me, and for some reason, I didn't really care anymore.

As they led me to the car, we passed someone that I recognized, but took me a minute to realize who it was.

I stopped and turned. Jasper and Alice turned around, watching me.

Seth was staring at me like he'd never seen me before. He kept blinking like he was confused. Heck, there _was _something going on. The boy standing in front of me had hurt me. I knew that. But somehow, I seemed closer and more attached to him than ever. It was almost possessive, and it freaked me out.

Then he asked, "Rory?"

I didn't answer right away. "Yeah," I said finally, "It's me, Seth."

"What…happened to you?"

I realized what I must have looked like right then-the only washing my hair had had in a month was hand soap and a sink in a public bathroom. Which can be used as an indicator for my other hygiene habits. My eyes were gaunt from lack of sleep and exhaustion, and I was so pale, not as pale as Alice or Jasper, but getting there. And thinner than I was supposed to be. Altogether, highly unhealthy looking.

Seth spared me from answering. "Have you been living on the streets or something?"

I pointed to the steps leading to the subways. "Down there, actually."

"But-why?"

I suddenly noticed someone watching us, a woman about my mother's age who looked related to Seth. I guess she was his mother. There was another woman, younger, about Whitney's age, that I guessed must be Leah, but she was, for some reason, glaring at Jasper and Alice. His mom was looking at her son, her eyes occasionally flickering to me, with recognition in them that I couldn't define.

I shrugged in response to Seth's question. "I'm going home now. But that's not important." He looked like he disagreed, but I continued before he could interrupt. "What happened to you, Seth? You just flaked out that one time. Why?"

Why couldn't I bring myself to be mad at him?

"I'm sorry," he said quickly, but not insincerely-it was almost frantic. "I'm so, so sorry about that, it's just that-"

His sister smacked him in the back on the head.

"Ow. Okay, I can't tell you right now, but please believe me, it wasn't my choice. I didn't want to, I wanted to tell you at least, but I just couldn't."

Hm. Avoiding me for vague and unknown reasons. Sound familiar? I think so.

I looked over at Jasper and Alice. They seemed to know what was going on, too, and they didn't seem to be happy about it. Why was I so out of the loop?

Seth noticed Jasper, narrowed his eyes, and took a step forward, challenging, almost instinctively, then got hold of himself and turned back to me. Weird.

"Listen," he said, pointedly ignoring my 'what was that?' look. "Um, maybe this isn't the best time to talk about this-do you want me to come to the diner again? Friday?"

"Friday is Claire's birthday." Leah interjected. With the tone she used, a word like "stupid" or "Moron" or something to that extent would not have been out of place at the end of the sentence.

"What about Saturday?" Seth asked. "Around eight?"

"Um…sure…sounds good. I don't think we're open then, though" I said, "so come around and knock on the back door, okay?"

"Yeah. Yeah, I'll do that."

"Actually," Jasper said quietly, coming and putting a hand on my shoulder, "I don't know if that's the best idea."

I looked up at him, surprised.

Seth looked like he was going to say something, but Leah spoke up instead.  
"Yeah?" she challenged, glaring at Jasper, "Because I think it's a fantastic idea."

"I'd have to disagree with you, then." Jasper said, glaring back at Leah. Alice came and stood by Jasper, and suddenly Jasper and Alice were having a glare-off with the Clearwaters, and I was caught in between. Nobody seemed to notice me, even though I was relatively sure that I'd been the start of the "disagreement" as Jasper so eloquently put it, the liar. It seemed like something else was causing them to clash, something that I, of course, didn't know about.

When it came to these people, I really didn't get to know anything, did I?

I coughed pointedly.

"I think," Seth said finally, "That Rory can be friends with who she wants to be friends with. She does have a mind."  
"Thank you," I said, but it was lost in what Alice said.

"Well, you have a point." She said, "But we're her friends too, and friends don't let friends hang out with other friends if they think those friends are going to hurt her."

Leah snorted. "Yeah, she's a lot safer with you-" she glanced at me before continuing, "_people, _than she is with us."

There was a double meaning in the word "people," but I didn't catch what it was.

"Yes," Jasper said, "I think she is, actually."

"Then you obviously haven't done your homework, considering the fact that people like _us _were designed for the sole purpose of protecting people like _her,_" Leah gestured to me, "And people like _you_ were designed to do just the opposite."

"Is ANYONE going to tell me what's going on?" I asked.

Everyone ignored me.

I sighed.

"You know," Mrs. Clearwater said finally, "We really should get going. Birthday shopping to do."

"But of course," Jasper said, steering me back in the direction we'd been walking before.

"See you Saturday," Seth said as we were leaving, probably just to spite Alice and Jasper. It worked. Jasper's hold on my shoulder tightened. I glanced back to respond, when I noticed something that had escaped my notice in all the confusion before.

"Seth," I said slowly, "Its…going to rain soon, you know."

"Yeah…I'm assuming, considering we're in Seattle."

"So can I ask why all you're wearing is a pair of shorts?"

"Oh…yeah….ah, now's not the best time for long explanations, but-well, here." He walked over to me and rested his hand on my arm.

"Holy crap! Seth, see a doctor or something!" His hand was burning. It had to be over 100. It couldn't be healthy.

He just laughed. "If anyone needs a doctor, it's you." He was smiling, but I could tell he was being serious.

"I'm fine, Seth, honest. I'm going home now. You need to see someone about that."

He looked at me skeptically, then said, "I'm fine. And if I come over Friday and you don't look better, I'm kidnapping you and taking you to the doctor myself."

"I'll be sure to keep that in mind."

"Good. See you-"

"SETH!" Leah screeched from down the street.

"Later!" he finished, and took off running to meet his family, who had kept walking the other direction.

Wow. Seth should be in track or something, cause he could _run. _

As we walked to Alice and Jasper's car, Jasper told me to be careful.

"Pay attention when you're around Seth, or Leah for that matter." He instructed. "Stay alert…be ready to run at a moment's notice, just in case something…strange happens."

"Um…why?"

"Just…humor me, okay?"

"Sure…"

"Promise me."

"Okay. I promise." I said, still confused. As I got into the back seat and pulled on the seat belt, I said, "So…I don't suppose either of you will tell me what happened back there?"

"Nope." Alice said cheerfully. "Do you want to stop for lunch? You must be starving."

I wanted to protest, but that same sense of calm came over me again and as I realized how tired-and yes, hungry-I really was, I stopped caring about the scene I'd just been a part of.

I wound up falling asleep in the back seat of their car. I had this freaking weird dream.

Half of me was freezing, the other half was burning up, and I started running as the donut shop went up in flames around me while Leah cackled maniacally. When I got out, it was snowing but I was dressed in my summer clothes from Florida, just shorts and a t-shirt. Jasper and Alice were telling me to get into their car, and Seth was telling me to follow him, and Robert Frost poems kept repeating themselves around me by some unknown force.

"Some say the world will end in fire,

Some say, in ice…"

A/N: Whoot whoot!

Now I just gotta get Classic 3 up.

I know it's been awhile, but I think it would be cool if you guys reviewed anyway…


	3. Story Time and Ulterior Motives

A/N: Hello…my dear readers.

This chapter is dedicated to you. You, whose frequent reviews motivate me to push on, push on with this story of mine. You, who have taken Rory and let her into your minds and hearts, you who continue to care about this story, even with the long pauses between stories.

This is for you. I commend you; I take of my hat and bow to you.

Seriously. Thank you all so much for reviewing, encouraging me to continue with your kind words and threats of sporks in my liver and Dr. Chase. (Note: I am not afraid of Dr. Chase anymore…but I _am _afraid of operations without anesthetic, and so the threat is still quite motivating.)

Oh, by the way. Funny story. I mentioned in Like a Lost Puppy that it was based on this dream I had, right? Well, I was going through some early drafts, and one was called "Vanilla." And I was wondering about that, and then it finally came back to me, the two biggest changes from dream to story. (Additional details don't count as changes.)

One was that Rory was originally blond. Her appearance was mostly the same aside from that. As her personality and background got fleshed out (she wasn't nearly as cynical as she wound up being, initially) I couldn't picture her blond anymore, so I changed it.

The other was that the reason Jasper reminded her of her brother wasn't because of what he looked like. It was because he smelled the same. I thought that would be too weird though, so I changed it.

I just thought I'd tell you that, in case you care.

Chapter Notes: For some reason, I really hate this chapter. Next one will be better. I think that was part of why this took too long, I kept going back to make it less of something that I hate, and was unsuccessful. The other reason was the fact that I'm getting bombarded with ideas for other stories. But never fear! I promised a sequel, and I shall keep that promise. Rory would never allow me to stop writing until the story was finished.

The Diner finally has a name.

When Owen says "That one show with the washed up supermodels and the chain-smoking wannabes," he's referring to America's Next Top Model, which nobody in his house watches and he only became aware of the show's existence because one time he was dating this girl who was like, obsessed with it.

Rory isn't some kind of super-student. She was a child prodigy when she was-well, a child-but her grades are pretty average now. She just finds all the ways she can to get out of school early, adding up to a year. (Technically three years, but she skipped two when she was little.)

Lastly, yes, I know, what kind of mom lets her recently AWOL teenage daughter go to breakfast with someone she doesn't know, doesn't even punish her for anything? But I needed to get to a certain point in the story, and didn't have time for "and then five months went by, and then my mom let me go." Plus, I think we've already shown that Rory's mom does not have the best judgment about stuff like this.

Disclaimer: I don't own Twilight, though I wish I did. If I owned America's Next Top Model, then I would sell it and buy something cooler with the money. Like Twilight. But since I don't own Twilight, one must assume I don't own, and never have owned, America's Next Top Model.

And…here….we…go!

"Rory? Rory, wake up." I woke up to Alice's voice, her cold hand shaking me by the shoulder. "We're almost there." She was leaning into the backseat, shaking me awake.

I frowned, looking out the window. I recognized the street as my own-yeah, there was the coffee shop. Alice returned to her seat.

As we approached up to Kitty's Diner, I continued to stare out the window until they came to a complete stop. Then I turned to the front, looking into the rearview mirror, where their eyes were too. The most convenient form of eye contact at that point, even if it wasn't technically eye contact. Like it mattered.

"Um…" I started. Neither of them said anything. It stayed quiet for a few unbearably long moments, and then I said "Thanks," and was about to bolt when Jasper said, "Rory."

"Yeah?"

"Good luck," he said. I could only see his eyes in the mirror, but it sounded like he was smiling.

"Thanks," I said again, more quietly this time, and got out of the car as Alice called "Bye!" after me. I turned around and waved, and then started walking toward the diner.

The lights were off, the chairs were up and the "closed" sign was up, with no time listed in the space where it said

"Come back at : ."

I turned around and saw Jasper's car still sitting there, he and Alice watching me expectantly. I sighed and lifted my hand, and it was halfway there when I hesitated, realizing I had no idea whether I should knock or just go in.

I decided to knock.

I waited there for about a minute, wondering if anyone was home, hoping they were and praying they weren't at the same time. Then I heard footsteps, the light switched on and the door opened.

It was Owen.

His face went through what seemed like ten expressions in two seconds-irritation, then realization, shock, ecstasy, anger, and bunch of other ones, and finally settling on the natural state of his face, which reflected the natural state of his emotional current. Irritated, but happy about being irritated. Owen was one of those people who showed how happy they were by complaining incessantly.

Then he reached out and grabbed my wrist, yanking me inside the diner, before closing the door and starting toward the back door. I followed him, not knowing what to expect.

"Holy crap, Rory." He said. "What, are you trying to get on that one reality show with the washed-up super models and the chain-smoking wannabes? Eat something, will you? You're creeping me out."

"Um…"

"And you should take a shower, too. You stink."

"Nice to see you, too, Owen." I said as we started up the stairs.

"Yeah. Hi. Where the hell were you?"

"Seattle."

"Where in Seattle?"

"Subway station."

"Mm. How'd you get back?"

"Some friends picked me up."

"Some friends?"

"Yeah. Jasper Hale and Alice Cullen."

"Oh."

"Yep."

….

"I'm going to call mom. Then I'm going back to the TV. I'm serious about what I said. Eat something."

"Where's mom?"

"Police station."

"Oh."

"Yeah. Danny's with her. Nate's at summer school. Whitney-" he shook his head suddenly. "I'll let her and Danny explain that one. Gary and Alex are at some daycare place."

Mentioning summer school reminded me of what my plan had been for this summer-take my last two credit during summer (I'd taken summer classes every year since starting High School, which was why I only had two credits left) and get out of High School. One of the classes I'd planned on taking was over. The other should've still been enrolling. If I took that one, I could do independent study for the last one and, if I worked hard, finish just a month after schedule. Still a lot earlier than some people did.

"And David?"

"What do you think?"

I stayed silent for a second. Yes, I'd expected him to take off again. But that didn't mean it bugged me any less.

"He's in Canada." He continued. "The Collins family-you remember them, right? Apparently he's still in contact with them-I mean, why write your own family when you can write the one down the street? Yeah. They said he's already got a new girlfriend, who's like, your age. Or, Whitney's age. Somewhere in between. But you know. Whatever. We're better off without him, right? Just sucks for Gary and Alex, they're pretty disappointed. Next time I guess we'll both have to hit him. He's not even our father anymore, he's just…"

"A biological donator."

"Yeah. Oh, and Rory? It's good to see you again. Just so you know."

Before I could respond, he was dialing the number.

I decided to take Owen's advice, because for once it didn't totally suck. I went into the kitchen and made myself a sandwich, and when I finished it, I went upstairs and into my room to get some clothes. I accidentally knocked a piece of paper or something off my nightstand, but decided to go back for it later.

Right before I turned the shower on, I heard a car pull up outside. But I decided that it was just my imagination and turned on the shower anyway. Not like I was stalling or anything.

After drying off, brushing my teeth, and brushing my hair twice-it was still messy, but not as bad as when I'd been in Seattle-I ran out of excuses and went downstairs, where everything happened in a blur.

My mother was sitting at the kitchen table. She looked up at the footsteps as I came down, and then before I was halfway there, she was hugging me and scolding me for running away. When she finally let go, Nate was leaning against the doorframe, Gary and Alex next to them. Big hugs, Nate just said he missed me, but in Nate language that meant "You know what? Don't ever run away again, because you will die and I will kill you for it."

And then-no more excuses-Danny walked in.

We stared at each other.

"Hi." I said quietly.

And then I was having the air squeezed out of me.

"Do that again, and I'll kill you." He told me. At least some people were honest.

And just like that, just as suddenly as I'd lost my brother, I had him back. I felt a surge of guilt for how I'd acted before leaving. It wasn't all my fault-but it partially was.

Then Owen walked in from the living room.

"Story time!" he said with sarcastic enthusiasm.

"Wait for Whitney to get here," Danny said.

"Ugh. Fine." Then he went back into the living room, muttering something like "I _hate_ waiting for things…"

And then I sat down at the table. My mom went upstairs to call extended family; Nate sent Gary and Alex into the living room to watch TV.

"So..." Nate asked quietly. "Why'd you leave…?"

I shrugged. Everyone glared.

"David." I said shortly. There was more to it than that, but I decided to leave it there. Nate groaned. "Should've known. If he ever comes back, and you want to run away again, do us a solid and take us with you. Did we tell you how he left? He's such a wuss.

He left like, in the middle of the night, without warning. Mom thought things were going good. And then he just leaves." He continued muttering under his breath for several moments. Suddenly, I heard a door opening downstairs. "Whitney?"

"Yeah." Danny smiled automatically.

Whitney walked in a minute later, saw me, screamed and ran across the room to hug me. I was so shocked that I couldn't even think properly. I just kind of thought "SHOCK! SHOCK!" over and over again.

Unlike my immediate family, Whitney had no trouble telling me exactly how much she'd missed and how worried she'd been. Finally, I had to cut her off in the middle of a sentence. It was the only way to be heard.

"Whitney. _Whitney. _Whitney!…listen. I'm sorry for ignoring you before I left, okay?" I stared at the ground as I said this. I wasn't used to apologizing-in my family, anything I did, anything anyone did, the other person got them back and then we were even. Usually no hard feelings. "I just wanted you to know that."

"No problem!" she said enthusiastically. I smiled a little, and turned back to Danny. "Sorry to you too….I'm happy for you guys."

He shrugged. "I kind of overreacted. And thanks."

Whitney suddenly gasped. "Oh, you're _gonna _be happy for us!" she said suddenly.

Danny looked at her. "Wait, you mean-"

"Yeah!"

"It's the real deal?"

"Yes!"

"Wait," Nate cut in, "You mean-"

"YES!"

Cue cheering.

Call it paranoia, but somehow, I got the sense that I was…missing something.

"What's going on?" I asked.

At that moment, Owen came in-accompanied by Gary and Alex-and announced "Whitney's here. No more stalling."

"What about mom?"

"I'm here." Mom said, coming downstairs.

"Crap." I sighed, ready to get it over with. I sat down; everyone else looked at me expectantly. Danny and Whitney still looked thrilled at some secret that Karma deemed me unworthy of hearing.

"Okay. So, what had happened was, I took a train to Seattle. And I was living in this Subway station, and I wanted to come back but-" I paused, not knowing how to explain it.

When it doubt…lie. "I wasn't sure how, I didn't have any money, except the stuff people threw at me, I bought food with that. Then these kids from my school found me, and drove me here."

"Who?" my mom asked.

"Jasper Hale and Alice Cullen."

"The doctor's kids…?"

"Yeah."

"Right, right. They always seemed like nice kids. Continue." In reality, my mom had only met the Cullens once-and only Alice and their mom. And she had said that they were, quote, "Nice…almost _too _nice." My mom was very untrusting of niceness. She always thought nice people had some ulterior motives for taking over the world in the name of niceness or something.

But now didn't seem like the time for that discussion.

"No, that's pretty much it."

I'm pretty sure everyone could tell I wasn't telling the whole truth, but nobody called me on it.

"Did you meet any weird people?" Alex asked.

"There was hobo." I told him. "His name was Nutjob Nick. He kept acting like he was going to attack me with a spork."

There was silence for a second. Then mom said "I'm…gonna go start dinner."

"That hobo doesn't know where you live, does he?" Danny asked.

"Um…I don't see how he could." How stupid did he think I was?

"Good."

Another awkward pause.

"I'm going to bed." I said finally.

I went upstairs, my head spinning. Everything I'd just said, I hadn't had to plan…it just happened. Maybe I had social skills. Or hey, maybe when so many people lacking in social skills came together, something happened where they were able to go by their own anti-social set of social skills…but Whitney had social skills….

What had Whitney and Danny wanted to tell me, anyway?

Whatever. Everyone knew I was back now, right? I survived that first hurdle. Next plans: Talk to mom about school, ask about where Whitney had been, check a Calendar to find out when Saturday was (I'd lost track in Seattle) and ask my mom if I was even allowed to leave the house. If we were a sitcom family, she wouldn't, but if we were sitcom family, David would only have hung around for the TV movie event of Danny's wedding, and have disappeared by the end of the second episode. But since we seemed to be a soap opera family, it could go either way at this point.

I crashed as soon as I got to my bed. I'd only been using sleep as an excuse to get some alone time, but now I realized how incredibly tired I was. I was out within a minute.

When I woke up, it was midday, the next day, and I was still tired. I dragged myself out of bed to change into pajamas (whilst feeling grateful that my family chosen not to wake me up) and the first thing I saw while going back to bed was a white envelope on my floor. I remembered knocking something to the floor before my shower yesterday, and reached down to pick it up, sitting up in bed. I yawned, crossed my legs, and turned it over. All it said was "Rory" in a neat script that seemed vaguely, extremely vaguely, familiar.

I opened it and pulled out the letter inside. It was very short, and typed.

"Rory,

I'm sorry things didn't work out with your mother and me. I really tried to make it work, but I guess I'm not very good at raising kids. I wish I could've said good-bye to you in person, but you weren't here…maybe its better this way, anyway.

I think it's best if you don't try to contact me. I know you're upset with me, and you have every right to be, but maybe its better that you forget I existed. Don't waste your life on anger, Rory. You're a bright kid, with a bright future.

-Your father"

The sheet of paper made no noise as it fell to the ground.

I sat down.

One: He tried to "make it work" for a _month. _He leaves us for five years, and then expects everything to be fine when he comes back? For us all to be ready to spring back and welcome him with open arms?

Two: "I guess I'm not very good with raising kids." How would he know? He never TRIED.

Three: "I wish I could've said good-bye to you in person, but you weren't here." So, what, did he think I wouldn't find out how he didn't say good-bye to anyone else in person? Were they not there, either? Bull_crap._ What, he's just trying to blame me for the fact that I wasn't around for him to metaphorically flip off in person?

Four: "Maybe it's better you forget I existed." Huh, a little late in the game for that one. I've got your genes; half of me belongs to you. I don't know if you noticed but I look nothing like mom. And anyway, I can't just pretend I didn't have a father at all, did you not pay attention in biology or something? Oh, no, wait. You didn't. Because I can't pay attention in Biology either, and I didn't get that from mom!

Four: "Don't waste your life on anger."

So what, he just expected me to drop my life and comb the world just so I could tell him off? Did he seriously think the world revolved around him? Why did he assume I was mad, or angry, or felt anything, anyway? It's not nice to make assumptions about _strangers_. How dare he think I was going to dedicate any portion of my soul to how much I hated him for thinking that I-that we weren't good enough for him.

How frickin' _dare _him be right.

And then the tears came. I imagine that at that moment, my face felt much like that of the Earth after Noah built the Ark.

And then, soon after my tear ducts passed out from exhaustion, I followed suit and crashed.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0

I finally woke up and I guess I must be really good at repressing unpleasantness, because what I thought of first was not the letter. My first thought was "What time is it? What day is it? Crap."

I could tell by the light from the window that it was early morning. I grabbed for my cell phone, but it wasn't on my nightstand where I usually kept it. Of course. The police must have checked my call and text records after I left. I wondered what they'd thought of a fourteen year old girl's text message inbox being as derelict as my own.

I really hated text messaging.

I picked my way through my messy room (that hadn't changed) as quietly as I could manage. It was easier when I got to Nate's room, which was immaculate (hence why I'd chosen his over Owen's, which was worse than mine.) I glanced around, looking for his phone, snatched it off the dresser next to mine and opened it.

"Saturday, July 29, 7:57."

Saturday at Eight…

I heard someone knocking downstairs-barely, but I'd gotten used to having to listen from two floors up-and snapped the phone closed and left the room.

Fact: Sleeping for two days makes you disoriented.

I had no idea who to expect until I was already pulling the door open.

"Hey, Rory!" Seth said. "Uh, did I wake you up?"

"No." I said nonchalantly. "Hi. Please come in."

"Rory, are you okay?" he said, stepping inside. I closed the door behind him.

That was when it all started coming back to me-the letter, the crying, the Noah's Ark…good times.

I almost expected to cry again, but I didn't. Instead, there was just some…calm acceptance there that I couldn't define…but not the kind that said "It's all gonna go away and you won't care." More like "You won't care for awhile, but you will again at some point." It was…

Weird.

"Yeah," I said. "I'm fine." I yawned. "Seth, why are you here so early?"  
"We agreed on eight, right?"

"Yeah. Why _did _we agree on eight?"

"We wake up early at my house." He smiled apologetically. "Sometimes I forget…"

"Yeah, well, you know…I shoulda caught it. Hey, um, I'm gonna go ask my mom if I can go."

"You haven't yet?"

"I've been sleeping for two days."

"Ah."

"Yes."  
"Rory?"

"Yeah?"

"Are you sure you're okay?"

"Gee, I dunno. Let me get back to you on that."  
He smiled and rolled his eyes, and when I said it, I'd meant it as a joke, but as I climbed the stairs I wondered if it was more open and honest than I generally cared to be.

My mom, half-asleep, followed our soap opera script with not minding if I went out two days after I went out. She wasn't mad about it later, though, so I guessed that wouldn't have been changed by her full awareness of what I was saying.

Nevertheless, I scribbled a quick note-"I went to breakfast with a friend, I will be back in an hour. –Rory." So they wouldn't worry. Then I got dressed, tried to comb my hair to no avail-it was still rebelling against me as result of my little vacation. Whitney could probably fix it, but I wasn't really all that interested in hair right then.

What was I interested in?

One: Food.

I hadn't eaten since the jell-o.

Two: Finding out what was going on.

It was all coming back to me now. Seth had some 'splaining to do…

I don't know where that came from. I don't even watch that show.

A/N: Yup.

I don't own I Love Lucy, either.

Oh, or Jell-o.

Just so you know…

Review please!


	4. Were All in This Together: La Push Theme

A/N: Hello all! I have two announcements to make, and one of them is important.

One: I'm starting a side (very side, side project, not getting nearly as much attention as this one, I promise) project called 'The M Files,' where I take everything I wrote during my Mary-Sue phase and turn it into a Mary-Sue Parody. The first installment is going to be all of my Avatar: The Last Airbender Sues, because most of them belong to that fandom, so if you're an Avatar fan, you might check it out. In any case, I thought I should tell you that because it's my duty to keep you informed, not because I'm advertising myself or anything. *cough cough*

Two: I've decided to divide "Dog Person" into two stories, for a couple reasons. One, because I planned it out the other day and it's going to have about twice as many chapters as "Like a Lost Puppy." So it'll be twice as long, and that would be weird, unless I call "Like a Lost Puppy" a prequel, which I don't want to do, because I wrote and published it first. Two, because if I divide it into two, then they'll be three stories, and then it'll be a series, and I can give it a sweet name.

So, this one's gonna be eight chapters, and the third one is seven chapters long and tentatively called "Throw Me a Bone." Please, _please_ tell me if you've got any better ideas. It just has to have some kind of dog/wolf theme in it. The series is called "Howling at the Moon," by the way.

Most important part of the A/N: Thank you all so much for your reviews. They make me so happy, I can't even explain it. But reading them keeps the writer in me alive, and I've become quite fond of the writer in me, I'd be devastated if she died. So…yeah. You guys rock, and I want you to know it. Thank you all so very much for taking the time to read my stories and tell me what you think of them!

Disclaimer: I don't own Twilight or McDonalds. Or Frosted Flakes. Or any of the games I mentioned earlier. Or Harry Potter.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

We decided to go to McDonalds, because McGriddles are closer to a part of this balanced breakfast than krispy kream. I would rather have had Frosted Flakes, not that I had anything against McDonalds, but…yeah, well, I didn't have a decent reason for not bringing it up, I guess. Because we hadn't planned it? Would it have been rude? Emily Post only ever seems to mention situations that are completely irrelevant to me. But anyway, I decided not to take the risk, hence, McDonalds. Whatever, anyway, I was hungry enough to not be picky, I hadn't actually eaten anything in awhile.

I feel important to note something that perhaps it would have been a good idea to mention earlier. What with all the hugs and the death threats and the letters and the Noah's Ark and cell phones and sleeping and so on that had taken up most of my time since coming home, I had not actually thought about Seth that much. BUT now that I was, I noticed this really creepy, possessive tendency that my mind had to put the word "my" in front of his name. Which was kind of creeping me out, so I started trying to shake it off. But it wasn't working, so I was just kind of chanting his name over and over in my mind, without the "my," but then I realize that saying "Seth" over and over in your mind is a lot creepier than just thinking of someone in the possessive, so I just started thinking about flowers.

And so we're walking down the through the parking lot of McDonalds (which, by the way, is conveniently located down the street from my house, like most places I seem to hang out at. Having your mom own a restaurant isn't all bad!) and I'm staring at these flowers planted between the building and the sidewalk outside, and I'm kind of wondering how flowers can grow here, because you need water AND sun to grow stuff, and then Seth is like "Rory, there's a-" and then I TRIP.

Apparently I was supposed to, you know, step up when we got to the sidewalk area.

Seth grabbed my hand and helped me up, and as I brushed the dirt off my legs (there wasn't actually much dirt there, it's just what you do) he asked me if I was okay like I'd just fallen down a flight of stairs. I glanced up at him. He looked insanely worried, an expression to match his tone.

"Yes, I'm quite alright, thank you for your concern." I answered quickly. "They should put signs up about that," I pointed to where the step-down was (I was now standing on the sidewalk) "I should sue them."

He rolled his eyes; I was glad he was back to normal. "Good luck with that."  
"I don't need luck, I need a lawyer."

"Again-good luck with that."

I was silent.

"What, no comeback?" he teased.

"Yeah, I'm working on it, I just don't have the words yet."

And then we got our food and everything, and we had this really stupid, boring conversation about how disturbing it is that they get the food to you so fast, even if it is "fast food," so I'll skip that, and then we sat down. I noticed that Seth got a ton of food. I mean, not that it was like a bad thing or I was judging him or anything…just that it was _a lot. _

"Gee, hungry much?" I asked.

"No." he deadpanned. I laughed.

"Okay," I said, unwrapping the bagel-sandwich thing I'd gotten. "Talk."

He kind of stared at me for a minute, like he forgot what I was talking about, and then he said "Oh! Right." He closed his eyes for a moment, and then began.

"Are familiar with any Quileute legends?"

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

"What!?!" I shouted. Seth flinched.

"Rory-"

"Who do you think you're kidding? Seriously? Were-"

"SH!"

We both look at the rest of the restaurant. We had an audience. There was a pause; I could swear, there were crickets.

"Were…We're All In This Together. Best song from High School Musical, right? Yeah, our school's putting on a production of it, and this guy wants to cut it out of the play altogether! It's like, the Wildcat's theme song! Am I right?"

Everyone slowly went back to their meals.

I turned back to Seth.

"Rory, I swear to you, I'm telling the truth!" he whispered. "What other explanation can you think of? And don't say it's just because I'm a jerk, because that doesn't explain the body temperature. Remember?" His eyes were begging me to believe him, to at least give it thought.

I closed my eyes stayed that way for what must've been a long time, thinking everything over.

On the one hand, Seth was telling me he was a werewolf, and by all logic, that was impossible.

But on the other hand, who was to say what was impossible and what wasn't? What made me an authority on possibilities? Nothing could ever technically be proven, anyway. People used to think that Platypi didn't exist. People used to think that sticking leeches on you would heal you.

Everything in me wanted to believe me. I can't explain it, but it was like…not believing him just was not an option.

I opened my eyes. "I think I believe you."

He let out a sigh of relief. "Really?"

I nodded, smiling a little. "Yeah." And just like that, the world was back in order.

There were a few moments of comfortable silence, before the questions came.

"So, what happens during a full moon?"

"Nothing."

"Nothing?"

"We phase when we want to."

I took phase to mean "change into a werewolf," since I couldn't think of a better explanation.

"Is that why you're so hungry? And why you're so hot?"

"Yes to the first one. My looks just come naturally."

"Ha. Ha ha. You're hysterical. So what up with that showdown a couple days ago, Clearwaters VS. Cullens?"

"Oh…that."

"Yeah. That." I said, mimicking his tone.

He sighed. "That's…not really my story to tell."

I had a feeling that he'd had to go to some kind of lengths to work out part of the story he'd told me, just to make sure he didn't give the answer to my question away.

Which meant…

"Fine. I'll figure it out on my own."

"Yeah, I'm sure you will."

"I will!"

"Rory. I wasn't being sarcastic."

"Oh." Oops.

Suddenly, Seth looked at his watch and said "We'd better go, or else your brother's going to come after me with a shotgun."

I quirked an eyebrow. "What are you talking about?"

"Um…never mind."

We walked back to my place, but before I could go inside, he stopped me.

"Uh, can I ask you something?"

"Sure…"

His hand went to the back of his neck. A thought occurred to me.

_No. _

He looked nervous.

_No. No. No. No. No. _

He took a deep breath.

_No. No. Please no. _

"I was just wondering…" he started.

Even I'd seen enough chick flicks to know what he was about to say.

_No. No. Nonononononono…_

"If you might…possibly…be interested…in…you know…going out…sometime…"

I didn't answer. On the one hand, it went against everything I believed in, and it wasn't going to end to well.

One the other hand…I wanted to say yes. Every second, I liked Seth more and more. Still hadn't shaken off that possessive, either.

So, you know, I went into denial. The usual.

I hadn't realized how long I'd spent mulling that over without speaking. Apparently the silence, though, was enough.

He nodded. "Okay…"

It took every ounce of will power to flinch away from eye contact with the boy in front of me. He was crushed. You could just tell, he was keeping it together, on the outside, or was trying to…

_Oh, no. Oh, no. Idiot! Look what you did! You BROKE him!_

_**Quit being so narcissistic! Gosh. How well do you even know him, anyway? **_

_I've known him for months!_

_**And you started talking-actually talking, not just you throwing your sarcasm in his general direction-when?**_

_Ugh! SHUT UP, SHUT UP, SHUT UP and SHUT UP!  
__**Rory. I know you like Scrubs and all, but that doesn't work when there's only one of me.**_

_Who __are__ you?_

_**You. Who are you?**_

_Ugh. Leave me alone!_

"Seth…I'm-"

"It's okay," he said, smiling a little. It didn't reach his eyes. "Really. I'll call you later, okay?"

I nodded slowly. He left, and I went inside.

0o0o0o0o0o0

I couldn't get the event out of my head for hours after that. Gosh. What kind of monster was I?

_**It would have been meaner to lead him on. **_

_No! No! No! No! No! I mean, he'd eventually get over me and then, and then he'd dump me and never have to know the truth. _

_**What truth?**_

_That I'm not interested. _

_**Liar. **_

_I'm not! Ugh. It's just because he like, he messed with my head by asking me that. _

_**Clearly. I don't remember you reacting like this when Carter asked you out though. **_

_Yeah, well, Carter wasn't that disappointed. _

_**Whatever. Anyway, I think Seth would realize at some point-**_

_Nonsense. I'm a great actress!_

_**Why do you sound so defensive?**_

_Do not! It's just the truth!  
__**I told you you were a narcissistic. **_

…_Oh my gosh, you're right. _

_**I know. **_

_**Oh, for the love of..! I don't know why Seth OR Carter were interested in you. Schizo. **_

_**What? Who the heck are you to judge us?**_

_Yeah, who invited you to join this conversation, anyway? Were we speaking to you?_

_**No. It's a free country though. **_

_Oh, no it's not. You're thinking of America. No, love, this is Rorytopia. Leave before her majesty has you beheaded. _

_**You mean, you have her beheaded? **_

_Precisely. Well, you and me. And her. Leave before we force you to behead yourself!_

It was about then that I popped some Advil for my migraine.


	5. Farting in Front of Doctors

A/N: Um...um...*facepalm.*

Okay, go back and see where last chapter ended, because I screwed up with it and then replaced it with a shorter one so I could re-do the second part right here. Sorry about that, long story filled with not-worth-half-a-crap excuses, so we'll skip it, but basically, yeah. I screwed up like I haven't since I was eleven (well, with regards to my writing, anyway) and now I'm flipping it on you, my poor innocent readers who did nothing to deserve it...

I humbly apologize. (Bows.)

And know what I'm even more sorry about? Not updating in forever. I am so...so...so...sorry. See, what had happened is, I figured out how this story ends. And it was kind of like reading in that now that I knew how it ended, I had to wait before I was ready to read it again, except...I don't know. I'm sorry. Please forgive me.

Chapter Notes: I had to write in Sam's POV for this one. I didn't think I would like it, but I turned out to love it.

Also, I think I'm gonna have to cut down on Rory's "inner voices." It's fun to write, but I feel like it's a bit distracting from the rest of the story. Maybe it can just by a little thing I break out when Rory's feeling stressed. Let me know how you guys feel about that, unless you're going to deny me reviews because of the long wait. Whatever.

Ah, yes. Anyway, again sorry, and as always, I don't own Twilight.

0o0o0o0o0o0

"Headache?"

I turned around, my hand still in the medicine cabinet. It was my mom.

"Oh. Yeah."

"Sorry to hear that." She didn't sound sorry. She had her business voice on. My mom wasn't a cold person, she was just...focused sometimes. Now was clearly one of those times.

"Rory. Sit."

I sighed and sat down, wondering what was coming up.

"It's time we talked about your education."

Ah. So that was it.

I immediately rattled off my plan. Summer school class, independent study, so on. You remember.

"Sounds good," she said when I was finished.

"Um...yeah. Thanks."

My mom and I didn't talk a lot. It was kind of awkward.

"Now, let's talk about college. I was thinking you could go to S.W.U., because-"

"Wait, wait, wait-college?" When was it decided I was going to college?

"Yes, Rory-did you think you were going to stay here and lay around all day?"

"What? No!" I snapped indignantly. "I thought I'd, you know...get a job...?"

"You're barely fourteen!"

"I'm almost fifteen!" I answered. "And I could work here-I already do, don't I? What's a few more shifts?" I couldn't help but think that a few more shifts=sore feet, but I chose not to voice this concern at that particular moment, taking my preference of sore feet over college into consideration.

"Okay," she said. "Fine. Fine. But if you stay here, you're paying rent!"

"Paying rent? I'll pay rent when you pay me for waitressing!"

"That's your responsibility as a member of this family!"

"Oh, yeah? Well, you seem to be running the family like a business. So maybe I quit-it looks like my benefits package just fell through."

_Whoa. That was a good comback, _I noted.

_**Shut up! Pay attention. **_

_Right. _

We stared at each other for a few more moments before I got up and went upstairs.

"Well, you haven't made it to a retirement, if that's what you're thinking!" she shouted after me.

0o0o0o0o0o0

I stayed up there for about an hour, alternating between trying to come up with an idea as to what I was going to do about the current situation, and doing random crap to distract me from that, hoping to give the idea center of my brain a break. That random crap consisted of reading Harry Potter, and staring at my ceiling and picking out images from the bumps in the plaster. I was screaming about the graveyard scene in Goblet of Fire when I heard a voice outside my door.

"Okay, fine. You talk to her."

My mom came inside.

_Knock much?_

_**Okay, who says that? You've been watching too many nineties sitcoms. **_

"It's your brother." she told me, handing me the phone. I was extremely tempted to ask "Which one?" but it's not like I didn't know, so I just brought the phone to my ear.

"Hey, Danny."

"Hey. So you don't want to go to college?"

"Well, I mean, maybe eventually, you know? Just...not right now."

He didn't answer for a minute. "Oh, sorry. I was nodding, I forgot I was talking over the phone."

"Moron."

"Your face is a moron. So, you wanna move in?"

I blinked. "What now?"

"I asked if you wanted to move in with Whitney and me."

"Wha-yeah, are you sure?!"

"No. Just kidding, we want you to run away again."

"Not funny, Danny."

"Oh, lighten up! Hey, let me talk to mom, I gotta make sure it's okay with her."

"You haven't asked her?!"

"Rory," he said slowly. "Think now. Do ya really think she's gonna say no?"

"...Point taken."

* * *

Danny set down the last of my boxes in the spare room.

"There," he panted. "Geesh. If we had a yard, and if that yard wasn't an ocean under the grass that would get everything wet, I'd say you should have a yard sale, because you have a LOT of crap."

"Yeah, well, your mom."

"We have the same mom." he retorted, nudging a box with his foot more to the left of the room. Earlier, I'd asked him why he was being so OCD about which side of the room the boxes were on, and he'd answered, "Oh, look, the thing-it fell," and ran off, all while Whitney hummed happily, making dinner in the kitchen. She'd offered to help, but Danny had asked her to make dinner for us instead-secretly, I wondered if maybe he wanted her to get more practice. From what I'd learned in the past few days, which had been "moving days," I'd learned that Whitney couldn't cook to save her life, which, I'm not going to lie, was more than a little comforting, considering that she could do everything else.

But anyway, Danny's boxkicking reminded me of his previous squirrelly-ness, and so I glared at him.  
"Yes?" he deadpanned.

"Seriously. What's up with the boxes?"

"Well, I have this sister who doesn't want to go to college-"

"Danny."

"You're sharing it, Ror."

For some reason, it made me laugh. "With who?"

"A five-year-old Russian girl named Natasha."

That made me laugh harder, and I still didn't think it was funny. I wasn't, you know, mad or anything, I was just a little stunned.

"How is that funny?" Danny asked me incredulously.

I swallowed my laughter. "It's, uh, it's not. So...you're...fostering? Adopting? Kidnapping?"

"Adopting."

"Oh...congratulations..."

"Yeah. And we were thinking that you could, you know, take Russian classes at community college...we are, too, you know, because I think she speaks a little bit of English but not all that much."

"Have you met the kid?"

"Nope. Whitney's flying over to get her in two weeks."

"Okay." I said.

"So, you aren't...mad?"

"No...not, not really...a little shocked, but not mad...you could've mentioned this before I moved in."

"Why? Changed your mind?"

"No! I just...don't like surprises. You _know _that."

"And you know that I'm a wuss. Come on! I wanted you to move in." He grinned conspiratorially at me. "And you know, don't tell the others, but you were always my favorite."

I grinned despite myself. "Danny, I'm pretty sure they know, considering every time they tick me off you say 'that's why I like Rory better than you.' But I appreciate and reciprocate nonetheless."

"True."

"DINNER TIME!"

The smiles slipped off both ours faces simultaneously.

* * *

I slept on an air mattress that night, except for the sleeping part. That never happened, there was no sleeping. Because after the shock wore off, the worry set in. The one girl in the world who never wanted a sister was getting one. Well, niece. Close enough, though, we were sharing a room. As the only girl in my family, I'd never had to share a room before. It sounded stupid, but what if I didn't know how? There were no classes the teach me that.

The next two weeks passed without event. We unpacked my stuff and got me moved in, decorated the other side of the room, and still couldn't sleep. If I wasn't worrying about the little Russian girl who I would be now sharing a room with, I was worrying about Seth. I hadn't spoken to him since he asked me out; I wondered if we'd ever speak again. The idea that our friendship was over almost sent me into a full-blown panic attack. I called him every day, but he never answered. I did once get ahold of Leah, but our conversation was sort of cut off short.

"Hello?"

"Hey...Leah?"

"Who the Hell is this?"  
"Rory."

"Why are you calling this number?!?"

Long pause. "I wanted to talk to Seth."

"Oh, NOW you want to talk to Seth? Well, let me tell you something, you stupid little-"

"Leah?" I heard someone in the background say. "Who are you talking to?"

"Uh, no one, Mom." Leah's muffled voice answered.

"What did they do?"

"NOTHING! Gosh, I'm nineteen years old, can't I have any privacy?"

"Well, yes, but I thought I taught you better than to speak to people like that."

"What's going on now?" My heart skipped a beat as a I heard an all-too familiar voice come into the conversation. _Seth. _My heart broke as I heard how depressed he sounded.

"Nothing, Seth." Leah said. "Fine, fine. I'll be nice, Mom." She came back on the phone.

"I'm not interested in anything you're selling right now." she said, malice dripping from every syllable.

And that was the end of that.

* * *

(Sam's POV)

"I'm worried, Sam," Sue told me in hushed tones. "She didn't mean to, but that girl just about killed my son. He just mopes around all day. He went to bed at around six last night and didn't get up until almost noon."

"I did that when I was fifteen too, Sue."

"Sam, he's not _eating._"

"...This is serious. Put him on the phone."

"I'll try." Long pause.

"Hello?" Seth asked. He sounded nothing like Seth, the youngest, most enthusiastic member of my pack; he sounded...dead.

"Seth?" I asked after a moment. "Are...you okay?"

"No."

"Listen. Your cousin must have turned me down fifty times before she finally caved. I know what you're going through, alright? It's not over."

"That's different. Of course she didn't want to go out with you. You'd just..." He paused and I guessed that Leah must have been in earshot, because all he said was "She had a reason."

"And why wouldn't this girl-"

"Rory."

"Rory have a reason?" I pointed out. "Maybe she's not allowed to date. Maybe she doesn't want to date until she's older."

"Bullcrap." He deadpanned. "It's not like I just met her, Sam. You haven't met her, or her family."  
I sighed as Emily tapped my shoulder. I turned around and she held her hand out expectantly.

"Talk to Em, okay?"

"Fine."

I handed the phone to Emily and she held it to her ear.

"Seth, she said, "She's probably afraid." Pause. "Think about it. When you imprinted on her, it didn't only affect you-it affected both of you. It changed both of you. And you, at least, know why. I mean, I get why you wouldn't tell her right off the bat, but she doesn't know why. She just knows that all of the sudden..." she paused and looked over at me. "All of the sudden, she wants to be around you all the time. And it hurts when you aren't there." She went back to staring at the wall. There was a long pause.

"No, Seth." she said. "I don't think it's a mistake-no, I know that-well, scientifically, there shouldn't be werewolves OR imprinting." she shook her head.

"Funny. I never thought you were a quitter." Pause. "You heard me. You get turned down one time and run away with your tail between your legs, no pun intended. Come on, kid. Be fair, give the girl some time. And since when have you listened to Leah's advice?" Another pause. She smiled. "See, that's the Seth I know. Good luck, okay? Okay. Love you, bye." She hung up and smirked at me.

"Told you I could get through to him better."

"Okay," I wrapped an arm around her and grinned. "You win."

* * *

(Seth's POV)

As soon as Emily hung up, the phone rang again. I checked caller I.D. My heart skipped a beat as I recognized the number.

"Are you psychic or something?"

"Weirder things have happened, wolf-boy." Rory responded. "I've been trying to reach you all week, where've you been?"

"Um...busy."

"That's bullcrap. You've been avoiding me, Seth Clearwater. Is it..." she trailed off, but it wasn't hard to know what she was thinking.

I sighed. "Well...listen. Can we talk face-to-face? I can be at your place in twenty."

"Um..." she said. "I kind of have a new crib now."

"...Crib?"

"I moved in with my brother-"

"No, wait..." I interrupted. "Crib?"

She cleared her throat. "Uh, yeah. Moving on. I live in those apartments down by Port Angeles now."

"Ooh. Swanky."

"Yeah, Danny always was one for aesethetics. And apparently Whitney's ballet students' parents pay through the nose."

"Hm. What about Danny?"

"Right now he's a freelancer. I think he's got a commercial for some new cereal that will benefit the dentists almost as much as it does him."

"Cool. I'll be there in...I don't know how long it takes to get there, but I'll be there soon, okay?"

"Kay, it's 308, you have to buzz in first."

"Gotcha. See ya."

"See ya. Oh, and by the way, Seth?"

"Yeah?"

"...Um...I missed you. Just, if you were wondering."

My smile, if possible, got even bigger. "Thanks, Rory. I missed you too."

"Thanks. See you later."

"See you later."

Click.

Ten minutes of begging, pleading, and negotiating for a ride, I was in the car with Leah sitting behind the wheel, complaining as usual about how she had to drag me everywhere, blah blah blah.

"I know, I'm lucky to have such a great sister, I don't know what I'd do without you," I said mechanically when she paused to take a breath. She didn't acknowledge it in words, but she did cool off a little after I said it, which is all you can ask for with Leah, anyway.

"Thanks, Sis, you're the best," I said as she came to a stop in the parking lot of Rory's apartment building.

"Yeah, yeah, have fun." she said, sounding bored. "Get out."

I obliged.

I walked into the lobby. It was quiet, too quiet, like a ghost town, or a doctor's office. Completely opposite of everything I associated with the person I'd come to see. I walked over to the front desk, thinking, as I noticed the look that the receptionist that perhaps I should have worn a shirt for this.

"Can I help you?" she snapped.

"Um...yeah," I said. "Hi, I'm Seth Clearwater, I'm here for Danny Swiston."

She glared at me. "There's no Danny Swiston here, you hooligan. My goodness, you kids spend too much time playing video games, you can't even come up with creative pranks. Out of my lobby! OUT!"

"Uh, wait!" I put my hands up in a gesture of defense. "Try Whitney Swiston."

"No, there's no Whitney Swiston. OUT."  
I sighed and went outside, leaned against the wall under the awning, and pulled my cell phone out of my pocket.

Someone answered on the second ring, but it wasn't Rory. "Hello!" a soprano female voice said, sounding strangely excited to talk to whoever was on the other end of her phone. "Who's this?"

"Um...Hi, this is Seth Clearwater, is Rory there?"

"Oh!" Recognition filled her voice. "_You're _Seth. Yeah, Rory's told me a _lot _about you." I smiled at this. "Hi, I'm Whitney, Rory's sister-in-law, I don't know if she's mentioned me..."

"Uh, yeah, yeah, you married Danny, right?"  
"Yes, I did. Lucky me," she said dreamily. "Oh, sorry. Let me get Rory for you."

"Thanks."

A few seconds later, Rory came on the line. "Hello?"

"Hey, it's Seth. The receptionist yelled at me and told me to-"

"CRAP!" she yelled suddenly. "Stay where you are."

And then she hung up.

About a minute and a half later, I heard someone-Rory-shout something I couldn't make out, and turned around to see through the glass doors of the complex that Rory was currently sprinting across the lobby and shouting at the receptionist.

She burst out through the French doors, turned to me and grinned.

"Hey," she said, clearly out of breath.

"Hey!" Something in the atmosphere changed the minute I saw her face. Everything suddenly felt...right. "What's up?"  
"Sorry, I..." she held up a finger, signaling me to wait while she caught her breath.

"You know, you should really work out more." I rolled my eyes.

She glared and waited a few seconds so she could say it without pausing: "You may want to rethink your wording, Seth."  
I rolled my eyes again. "You know I didn't mean it like that."  
"Do I?" she grinned. "Gosh, I missed you. Don't avoid me again, kay? It was boring without you."

"Thanks, I'll do my best. So, are you going to explain the receptionist's hostility, or what?"

"Oh, yeah." she rolled her eyes. "She's just bitter because she's like, seventy-three and never been married, which is fine, but she doesn't seem to think so, hence the bitterness." she shook her head. "But it's really my fault. I'm guessing you asked for Danny Swiston?"

"Um...yeah?"  
"Yeah, it's actually Danny Nielson." she explained as we went inside. "Swiston's our Dad's name. Danny changed his when he turned eighteen. I'd do mine, too, but Mom won't let us, for some stupid reason."

"Ah." I realized that this wasn't something she wanted to talk about, and changed the subject. "So, what've you been up to?"  
"Oh, you know," she said. "Moving, and...no. Just moving."

"How'd you get your mom to allow that?"  
"Seth, my mom let me go eat breakfast with you the day after I ran away. I mean, really?" she sighed. "But yeah, it took some negotiating, but eventually she said that if I moved out, I had to find a job."

"Oh, yeah?"

"Yeah. Haven't found one yet, but I have until the end of the month. I still have time."

"Hm..."

"Yeah...oh, and guess what? Apparently, I'm getting a roommate. Danny and Whitney are adopting a little Russian girl named Natasha."

"Oh, yeah? And how do you feel about that?"  
"Eh." she shrugged. "I mean, I'm not mad, but it's a little kid, which I'm not good with, and furthermore, it's a little girl, and having only brothers, I have no experience with that, and _furthermore_, it's a little girl who speaks an entirely different language."  
"Wow," I said, "That's...quite a predicament."

"Yeah, thanks, Seth, very helpful."

"Um," I said, "You could try to think of it as a learning experience."

"Wow. Overused cliche of the year, much?"

"Oh, come on."

"Fine." she sighed. "So. Why, dare I ask, were you avoiding me?"

"Um..."

"No. No more stalling."

"Gosh, how much do you hang out around that crazy receptionist lady?"

"More than I'd like to, considering you haven't been around."

"Rory."

"I'm serious!" she said.

"I go down there to read because Whitney's always got music playing, choreographing for her students, it's sickening."

"Well, then."

"Come on. Staller."

I sighed. "Okay. Look. I was embarassed, okay?"

"Why? I'm not laughing at you behind your back or anything, come on, you know me. Plus, I don't have anyone to laugh at you with. I mean, not that I would, even if I did, but still. It's evidence you can't ignore."

"Okay, but that's like when they tell you it's okay to fart in front of someone because they're a doctor." "Lovely, Seth."

"I mean, they might not care, but you're still embarrassed."

"Aren't most fifteen-year-old boys supposed to find farts funny?"

"Well, this is what happens when you only have a sister and a mother."

"Oh. Yeah."

"Yeah," I said vaguely, trying to push the thought of my Dad out of my head. I looked down at Rory again, prepared to force a smile. I didn't have to. She made it easy.

"So," I said, "You and Danny are pretty close, huh?"

"Oh, yeah," she said. The elevator doors opened and we went into the hall. I followed her to her apartment as she said "He kind of raised me, you know? Cause I was eleven when Dad left, and he was seventeen. And mom was always working, so Danny was in charge most of the time. And I mean, Owen and Nate were always dog piling on me-I was kind of an easy target, I mean, I was the only girl, I was the only one with black hair-"

"I thought Nate had black hair."

"Yeah, well, he dyes it, cause he wishes he was cool, like me."

"Yeah, Rory, that's why."

She grinned. "Yeah, no, he just wants to be emo or something. I don't know." She shrugged.

We stopped in front of door 308 and she turned the handle and went inside.

"Whitney, Danny, I'm back."

The apartment was big, probably as big as the bottom story of my house. It was cleaner than most of my friends houses, but still had a warm, inviting aura to it. The couch was some kind of white leathery looking sectional, too big for three-or, I guess, four-people. It gave the impression that these were people who liked having guests over.

A blond woman stepped out of the kitchen into where we were now, which was clearly the living room. She was tall, thin, and obviously Rory's ballerina sister-in-law.

"Hi!" she said, stepping over to shake my hand. "I'm Whitney, we talked over the phone, remember?"

"Um, yeah, how've you been since then?"

She laughed. "I like him, Rory, he's funny. Good choice."

Rory blushed and sighed. "Whitney. I told you."

Whitney rolled her eyes and turned around to leave. "Deny it all you want, Rory! I'm gonna get Danny."

Rory, who had suddenly become very interested in her fingernails, stalked into the kitchen. "You want anything to drink?" she asked, clearly still irritated. I wasn't sure if her reaction to Whitney's implications were a good thing or a bad one.

"Um, yeah, water would be good."

"Okay."

She came back with two full glasses and set them on the coffee table, taking care to use coasters. "Whitney throws a fit when we don't use the coasters," she said. "She seems all mellow now, but she's really-" she glanced at the opening to a hallway, where Whitney was returning to the room, a tall, bleach blond guy in tow. "Really great. She's really great."

"Nice save, Rory," Whitney rolled her eyes. "Danny, meet Rory's friend."

Ah. So this was Danny.

I stood up. "Hi," I smiled. "I'm Seth."

"Seth," he said without smiling. "Hi. Nice to meet you." His tone did not convey the same sentiment that his words did.

"Oh, Gosh, Danny." Rory rolled her eyes. "I always hang out with guys. You know that."

"Yeah," he said, still eying me skeptically. "But I don't know. You didn't talk about Ellis like you talked about him."

"Hey, Danny? I think there's some dieing you need to do before noon, remember?"  
He rolled his eyes. "Whatever, just telling it like it is." And then he left the room.

"Don't mind him, he's just overprotective," Whitney told me as she followed him.

I sat back down.

"My family," Rory told me, still red, "Is insane. I swear. When I was fourteen, my mom asked me if I was lesbian because I didn't have any friends that were girls."

"That's stupid."

"I know, right? I mean, what is so wrong about the fact that I find Tiger Beat magazine boring?" she sighed.

"So," I asked conversationally, "Who's Ellis?"  
"Oh," she said, "He was my best friend in Florida. Now he's my email buddy."

I tried to hide my irritation at this as best I could, but apparently I wasn't as successful as I'd hoped, because she added "Of course, we both found new best friends."

"Who?"  
"Oh, he hangs out with this guy who doesn't smile-"

"No, I mean, you."

She gave me a look. "Who do you think, stupid? You."

As weird as it sounds, I couldn't get those words out of my head for the rest of the day.

* * *

There you go. Eight pages long, I hope you like it.

Much thanks to the creators of Write Or Die, a website without which I would never have finished this chapter. And much thanks to all of you, who put up with my moods.


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